Finalist Adam Taylor, studying manufacturing engineering at the University of Warwick, set up StudentsWall, a not-for-profit online community website. Photograph: Graham Turner

Jennifer Lambert is the first to admit she can't sit still. The final-year medical student at the University of Leeds is always on the look out for a challenge, and what she has managed to pack into her five-year degree is more than the average undergraduate would dare to.

In between her studies, which for the past three years have meant regular nine to five days in the hospital, the 24-year-old from Norwich has been a student rep, organised charity events, been an adviser for the General Medical Council, helped develop resources on ethics and medical law and undertaken a research project looking at the use of ECG (electrocardiogram) machines, for which she was awarded a scholarship to continue her work.

She received the university's Joan McKinnon award for her research into child abuse and her work has been published in journals and presented at international conferences. If she has a spare moment, she likes to do a bit of kickboxing. "I can't sit still. I have to have something going on," she says. "I'm continually looking for things to pack in."

For her efforts, Lambert is one of seven finalists in this year's Real World Graduate of the Year competition, which rewards final-year students for everything they fit in around their studies. Students who have spent their time at university chewing the fat in the union bar need not apply. This contest champions those students who have "comprehensively demonstrated their attitude, energy and commitment" to voluntary work, student union activities, or something else that has benefited "society at large".

The winner, who will walk away with a cheque for £10,000, will be announced on Tuesday. Two runners-up will get £3,000 each, and the remaining four finalists will each receive £1,000. If she wins, Lambert says she would use the money to further her research into child abuse, pay off her debts and go travelling.

Harjeet Taggar, a law student at the University of Oxford, says he would invest the prize money in his online business, which he set up with friends in his second year. Taggar, another finalist, says he spends up to five hours a day managing his "student version of Ebay", which offers students the chance to buy and sell goods online.

He set up www.boso.co.uk, which is free and open to any student with a university email address, as a way of easing student debt. "It didn't seem to make sense that you had to buy brand new books when probably there were people who didn't need them any more," says Taggar, who adds PR work for the Oxford Entrepreneurs society, events officer for the Future Flyers careers committee and college admissions rep to his bulging CV.

The achievements of all seven finalists, which include voluntary work, fundraising and re-establishing college clubs, will undoubtedly impress potential employers, who are always on the look out for "soft skills" to back up academic qualifications.

But finding time to fit in all these extracurricular activities is not easy, especially now many students have to work part time. For Taggar, 20, from Slough, it has meant working flat out during term-time and resting during the holidays. "You have eight to 10 weeks of being incredibly busy. I just pack in as much as I can. You have to be prepared not to sleep very much," he says.

Adam Taylor, a manufacturing engineering student at the University of Warwick, says you have to be determined and know your priorities. "Do I want to just go to university and have a good time or enrich my skills and experiences?" he says. "It's really just getting yourself involved and adapting."

While at Warwick, the 24-year-old from London has set up a cheap night bus service and a coach-leasing company, and created a not-for-profit website, www.studentswall.com, which allows students to share information.

Although all three students, who are expected to graduate with good degrees, have been fortunate to expand their skills and earn some money at the same time - through research grants, internships and funding from their businesses - they all still expect to leave university in debt.

Darius Norell, who launched the competition three years ago, admits balancing finances, work and outside interests can be tricky. "There are issues about people having to work through holidays and term-time, which can mitigate against them doing some of the interesting stuff they might have done. But you can still get a lot out of work experience," he says.

The competition draws on Norell's own experience of university, although he admits failing his first year and graduating with a third-class degree is perhaps not a "great model" for today's students. But he firmly believes that, in the long run, what you do in your spare time will count for much more than academic achievement.

"I couldn't see how studying would be a useful thing to do," he says. "I was completely into my extracurricular stuff. I learned far more about how the world works." And he managed to get a job through one of his projects.

Norell is clearly impressed with this year's finalists, although he won't say how many people entered the competition. He says "several thousand people" signed up to enter, but many were put off by the standard of past entrants. "Typically, people spend a minimum of 20 hours a week on extracurricular stuff, some up to 40 or 50," he says.

The unique selling point of the competition is that it rewards students for non-academic endeavour, something that last year's winner, Hazel Mowbray, says should be valued.

Mowbray, 22, studying for a masters in international development, regards her win - and all the projects she was involved in - as a "huge personal achievement". But the prize money was important too - it's helping to pay for her postgraduate study.

Magnificent seven

Shazia Saleem, 21, studying economics at the University of Warwick.

Harjeet Taggar, 20, studying law at the University of Oxford

Adam Taylor, 24, studying manufacturing engineering at the University of Warwick

Jonathan Bailey, 21, studying history at the University of Oxford

Sadiq Jaffer, 22, studying computer systems engineering at the University of Warwick